Universal computer input device

An improvement in an apparatus for providing a mouse input to a computer through a single linear array of photodetectors from an off-screen medium, said single linear array of photodetectors disposed in said apparatus and having an optical length, comprising:

• a grid comprising a plurality of horizontal lines and a plurality of diagonal lines,
• said horizontal lines being detected by said single linear array to detect relative motion of said apparatus with respect to said off-screen medium in a direction perpendicular to said horizontal lines, said horizontal lines having a first predetermined thickness and spaced apart from each other by a dimension less than said optical length of said single linear array;
• and
• means for detecting relative movement of said apparatus with respect to said diagonal lines to indicate motion of said apparatus parallel to the said horizontal lines, so that said apparatus is operable as a mouse input device, said plurality of diagonal lines comprising a plurality of diagonal line segments disposed between each of said horizontal lines, said diagonal line segments having a second thickness, said second thickness being distinguishable by said apparatus from said first thickness,
• whereby a universal input device for said computer is provided.

An apparatus for providing input to a computer from an off-screen medium comprising:

• a handheld pen;
• a single linear array of optical detectors disposed in said pen;
• input logic means coupled to said linear array and to said computer for selectively configuring said single linear array of detectors in one of a plurality of input modes to optically read information from said off-screen medium into said computer, one of said input modes being a text line scanning mode wherein said input logic means receives output from said linear array as scanned text and generates unique codes corresponding to said scanned text,
• wherein said plurality of input modes comprises at least a static mode input, said static mode input being defined as input through said single linear array of detectors without relative movement of said single linear array with respect to said off-screen medium;
• wherein said text line scanning mode is a linear dimensional mode, said linear dimensional mode being defined as a sequence of data which is input as a result of relative movement of said single linear array of detectors with respect to said off-screen medium in a line of direction;
• and
• wherein said plurality of input modes comprises at least a mouse input mode which is a two-dimensional input mode, said two-dimensional input mode being defined as data which is input while said single linear array of detectors is arbitrarily moved in at least two noncolinear directions with respect to said off-screen medium, said data being indicative of the position in two dimensions of said linear array on said off-screen medium, said off-screen medium comprising a grid, said grid comprising in turn a plurality of horizontal lines and a plurality of diagonal lines, said horizontal lines being detected by said input logic means through said single linear array of optical detectors to detect relative motion of said apparatus with respect to said off-screen medium in a direction perpendicular to said horizontal lines, detection of relative movement with respect to said diagonal lines being interpreted by said input logic means to indicate motion of said apparatus parallel to the said horizontal lines, so that said apparatus is operable as a mouse input device, said horizontal lines of said grid comprising a plurality of horizontal lines of a first predetermined thickness and spaced apart from each other by a dimension less than the optical length of said single linear array of detectors, and wherein said plurality of diagonal lines comprise a plurality of diagonal line segments disposed between each of said horizontal lines, said diagonal line segments having a second thickness, said second thickness being distinguishable by said input logic means from said first thickness,
• whereby a universal input device for said computer is provided.

A method of providing a universal input device for a computer comprising the steps of:

• providing a single linear array of detectors;
• generating an output from said single linear array of detectors from an off-screen medium over which said detectors are disposed;
• and
• selectively interpreting said output from said simple linear array of detectors according to one of a plurality of modes, said plurality of modes comprising a static mode defined as a sequence of data which is input while said single linear array of detectors and off-screen medium is relatively fixed with respect to each other during generation of said output, a linear mode defined as a sequence of data which is input while said single linear array of detectors is moved with respect to said off-screen medium in a single direction during said step of generating said output, said sequence of data being selectively interpreted as either text data or pixel data, and a two-dimensional mode defined as data which is input while said single linear array of detectors is arbitrarily moved in two noncolinear directions with respect to said off-screen medium during said step of generating said output, said data being indicative of the position in two dimensions of said linear array on said off-screen medium, wherein said off-screen medium comprises a grid, said grid comprising in turn a plurality of horizontal lines and a plurality of diagonal lines,
• wherein selectively interpreting said output senses said horizontal lines by said input logic means through said single linear array of optical detectors to detect relative motion of said apparatus with respect to said off-screen medium in a direction perpendicular to said horizontal lines, detection of relative movement with respect to said diagonal lines being interpreted by said input logic means to indicate motion of said apparatus parallel to the said horizontal lines, so that said apparatus is operable as a mouse input device, said horizontal lines of said grid comprising a plurality of horizontal lines of a first predetermined thickness and spaced apart from each other by a dimension less than the optical length of said single linear array of detectors, and wherein said plurality of diagonal lines comprise a plurality of diagonal line segments disposed between each of said horizontal lines, said diagonal line segments having a second thickness, said second thickness being distinguishable by said input logic means from said first thickness in said step of selectively interpreting,
• whereby said universal input device is selectively operated as a point-and-click bar code reader, bar code scanner, mouse, handwriting input, and text scanner.